Southern Good Faith Fund was one of 12 community partners chosen nationally in the Corporation for Enterprise Development’s (CFED) Saving for Education, Entrepreneurship, and Downpayment Initiative (SEED), for developing, testing, and promoting matched savings accounts and financial education for children. Families with children between the ages of 3 and 4 years old were invited to participate and the children’s savings accounts were “seeded” with $1,000. In addition to this initial deposit, participating families received a $1 match on every $1 deposited into the account up to $1,000. SEED’s goal was to set the stage for universal children’s savings accounts.

Parents of SEED participants completed a two-part asset specific class on investments and the value of a college education, in addition to the five-part economic skills classes. Our young participants also received age-appropriate saving education.

Southern Good Faith Fund offered these accounts to seventy-five families in Phillips County beginning in the fall of 2002. In January 2007, at the close of our participation in the SEED initiative, their savings and match will be/were transferred into the UPromise GIFT college savings plan.

To learn more about SEED and CFED, visit www.cfed.org.